Smart & Final

Located across the street from Silo in Markers Quarter with it’s own parking lot (free parking; street parking is metered).
I stopped by here to get a bottle of water and also hoping to use the restroom. When I came in, I asked the female employee at the register where the restroom was. She thought I was asking for mushrooms and pointed towards the produce section.
I told her I was looking for the restroom. She told me its towards the back of the store. So I walk back there and find that it requires a token (as it was locked). This male employee walking out of the stock room saw me trying to open the restroom door and I asked him if he had a token. He said he doesn’t but that there should be one at the register. After I told him that I had just asked the person at the front regarding the restroom, I had asked out loud why she did not bother to give me a token. He offered to walk up to the front to get me one but I thanked him and told him I could do it myself. So I walked back to the front and asked the same girl at the register for a token. She told me she was out of them and couldn’t do anything for me, which really annoyed me because I won’t pay to use the restroom. So I just looked back at her and asked her «so what am I supposed to do?» and then she hesitatingly offered to ask her manager.
And then slowly walked over to his office and asked and eventually the manager came out and walked with me to the restroom. He took his time though because he saw a spill down one aisle and told an employee to clean it up before letting me into the restroom (good thing I didn’t have to use the restroom that badly because they really made me wait). He unlocked the restroom with a key and then told me that he was going to empty the lock to retrieve all the tokens. He told me not to be alarmed and that no one will be trying to get into the restroom while I am in it and then let me inside.
Anyways, after I finished using the restroom, I was just too annoyed to buy that bottle of water and decided to just leave.
The female employee at the front obviously didn’t care about her job and the manager just obliged to let me into the restroom. The only employee who was nice and helpful was the male coming out of the stock room. He even apologized to me for the wait (even though it wasn’t his fault), so I am awarding this review a 2^nd star because of it. But I would never come back to this Smart & Final. I honestly rather shop at Costco.

Review of the 15^th and G location in East Village, San Diego —
Honestly, S&F’s private label, «Sun Harvest» has to be the best reason to shop here. Just look for the yellow-​green theme packaging on a WIDE multitude of items — many organic, natural, or as close to it as possible. I’m officially addicted to their coconut water… WAY better than other major brands that are $$$ and/​or taste like copper syrup. I dig their organic tortilla chips, too.
A step below that is their «First Street» label, which is pretty damn good for the price on a HUGE number of items if you’re not as picky about the ingredients.
Meat is decent, produce okay when fresh (although most items are sold in bulk).
All in all, its my go-​to store for the basics, which it excels at. No frills — just great prices and quality. My only complaint is that the homeless have been starting to harass me (and other customers) as we enter/​exit the store.

My first visit to a Smart and Final and I’m quite pleased with it.
Got some great deals on a couple of steaks and chicken thighs.
Scored a great frying pan, measuring spoons and a huge cookie sheet of great quality and at the best price. These are the kind of pans you see Gordon Ramsey using! Well at least they look that way.
So this is like a mini Costco without the membership and if you want to buy in smaller bulk you can!
Everything was easy to find and very accessible.
The best part is that we had the place all to ourselves and it was a Saturday afternoon.
If you are planning a party this is the place to go, even for the booze.
Not the best part of town but also not the worse.
This place has it’s own parking lot and there’s plenty of it.
Overall I’m a fan of Smart and Final at least of this location.

Can I just say, I LOVE THIS PLACE! I work at a local ice cream shop and I am here at least once a week, if not twice. It is located conveniently between my home and work so stopping by here for whatever I may need is the best! I have never not found what I needed and the staff is always willing to help me find whatever I can’t find.

They improved over last several months.

i love how their items are sold in bulk — i can open my own little candy shop. Unfortunately i didn’t find was i was looking for… but this store is very well organized and clean with friendly staff.

The best mini version of a Cost Co in downtown San Diego. While I used to shop at Costco I didn’t need 25lbs of potatoes weekly. Their prices are cheap vs Albertsons next door. Great staff! Great selection! Great value savings weekly! Love them!

My local smart n final location when I’m in SD visiting .
As with most smart n finals I usually pay them a visit for one thing or two. What better to buy here than Montecito Nacho Cheese and Montecito Chips. In my opinion the nacho products they sell here are some of the best you can buy anywhere .
The store itself is kept nice and clean as well as well stocked. They have good deals on holiday items such as hot dogs, burgers, chips and drinks. The only downside to this location may be the sketchy and somewhat dirty parking lot but the ample parking makes up for it .
Great location in the heart of downtown San Diego.

This is one of my favorite Smart N Finals. They are always well stocked and have a multitude of items, I believe they are a Plus store. Easy access off G Street or off the 94. The customer service has always been good also. Only small concern is there are usually sketchy people around in the parking lot and on 15^th street so always be alert coming and going to your vehicle.

A great selection at a great price! Very friendly staff, easy location, fresh fruit, great choices in the cheese area. The neighborhood has improved, the homeless people don’t bother me, and the friendly nature of the staff makes it a great place to grab dinner ingredients. The parks by lot could be improved by figuring out if they are going to angle the parking spots or not…

This smart and final is very convenient. I like that it’s in the middle of everything yet far enough to provide ample parking. It’s kind of tricky to get to if you’re not familiar with the one way streets across our beautiful city. The store is nicely stocked and clean, the staff is always friendly and helpful.

I popped into this Smart & Final looking for Gingerbread Syrup to make holiday coffees with. They didn’t have it. Can’t say I am too surprised, but come on, they have Peanut Butter flavored syrup. Who the heck puts THAT in their coffee?

First and last experience. I came in half an hour before closing. Only two girls visible working were ringing each other up. By the time I found my purchases, they still were not finished. They made me wait, without a «hello», «excuse us just a sec», «I’m almost finished»…NOTHING. The girl even couldn’t make up her mind what she wanted and kept taking stuff off. Seriously? Where is your customer service? You could have at least acknowledged me! We live around the corner but will just continue making the drive to Vons. Disappointing.

I dig this place! Been coming here for years and it has always done me right…
So what is Smart & Final? To me it is your typical grocery store combined with a Costco — sans membership! It has tons of bulk items but in a small store atmosphere. It’s the kind of place that you will see local chefs picking up items that they either ran out of or forgot to order from their supplier because of their large quantities and affordable prices.
Parking rules and I have never had a problem finding space in the lot. Plenty of spaces and it isn’t swimming in carts. The worst thing ever is walking out to your car at a grocery store only to find that someone has plowed a cart into your driver side door. Not here… yet.
It’s rarely crowded either. Sure, you’ll get three or four people ahead of you in line but anytime that I’ve been here when the wait has gone too long, they’ve always opened extra registers. Take note, Ralph!

OMG, you guys!
My mother likes a particular brand of wine and whenever she sees it at S&F she buys as much as she can (because they don’t have it all the time but when they do it’s the best price). Today she went in and didn’t see it on the shelf but noticed it up on the rafters. She asked a guy to get it down for her and he was like «Oh, you’re who we’re saving that for!» She was confused… He said that they noticed she liked that particular one and would buy what they had when it was in stock, so they ordered some just for her!
She never asked for them to do this, nor expected it, but that shows some REAL customer service! I’m super impressed.

I often stop here after work on my way home and it is very convenient. There are homeless people all around the streets in this neighborhood, but they are respectful of the store. There is security that patrols outside and inside. There is ample parking, the store is clean, well organized, well stocked, good selection, good lighting, friendly and courteous service. I like this store even better than the one in Clairemont. The service and cleanliness of Clairemont is lacking.

I can’t really say a whole lot about this store. The prices are about what you’d expect from a Smart & Final. The sizes of the products were a bit smaller than what I had thought they’d be — I guess I was looking for the overly-​large Costco-​sized buckets of food, which they don’t really have here.
My biggest input has to deal with the people who work here. Oh, they’re friendly enough, and will stop to help you if you flag them down, but I don’t know that they’re really that knowledgeable when it comes to the products they carry.
Case in point — I went in looking for a bag of pecans. I didn’t care if they were whole, quartered, chopped or diced, as long as they were unshelled. I went to the baking aisle, where I expected to see them. There was a tag, but no product on the shelf. I dug a bit, just in case there was a bag hiding out in the wrong area. Nothing. So, I started to comb the aisles, trying to find a worker who wasn’t on the register. Three or four aisles down, I found one.
I asked her if they carried bagged pecans. She said they did, and proceeded to lead me back to the aisle I had just left. She got there, and sure enough, there were no pecans. She did the same kind of rummage that I had just done, and came to the same conclusion: no pecans. I saw that she was going to start rummaging the rest of the shelves for the pecans that did not exist, so I asked her if she knew if there were any in the back that she could grab.
At about that time, another worker walked into the aisle. She asked him if they had any pecans, and he turned to look at the shelves, too. I braced myself for another re-​enactment of the shelf-​rummage, but instead, he grabbed a bag from the shelf above, and handed it to me.
At first, I was chagrined. Did I seriously just waste these people’s time because I failed to search the shelf above? But then I looked at the bag he handed me.
Walnuts. The bag he handed me was a bag of chopped walnuts. I looked back at him (he was clearly expecting me to say «Thank you» so that he could go back on his way), and I said, «Thank you, but I needed *pecans*. These are *walnuts*» and I pointed the bag towards him, so he could see «Chopped Walnuts» emblazoned on the packaging.
He started to argue with me! No, no, you asked for pecans, and this is what this is. I pointed to the writing, and very clearly said, «chopped walnuts». He said, No, this is what you asked for.
At that point I was starting to get frustrated, so I handed the bag back to him and said, «I need pecans, not walnuts, which is what you handed me. Thank you for your help» and started to walk away. Only THEN did he realize that he was holding a bag of walnuts, not pecans, and asked me to wait while he checked.
Needless to say, I didn’t get my bag of pecans from this store that day, but I did get a big bag full of frustration.
«No, we don’t have any.» «I’m sorry, we’re all out.» I guess those are just phrases that they choose not to use, even if they are, in fact, out of product.

I rarely buy food at Smart & Final so I can’t comment on the expiration date issues mentioned by other reviewers. But they do have nice prices on beer & party/​coffee mess supplies… and it’s much easier to get in and out of than Costco. Not a great part of town but I felt fairly safe with a security guard standing watch.

As a coffee whore, I love having flavored lattes, but hate paying up the butt for the Torani syrups. Furthermore, the run-​of-​the-​mill grocery stores only sell small bottles in the three basic flavors, so I have had to order these off
.
Well, NOT ANYMORE! The owner of the Purple Café in PB let me in on this secret.
Smart & Final has over 20 different flavors, many in sugar free, and at half the cost from Amazon!
I read a few of the reviews for this Smart & Final, and some people think it is ghetto and that the security guard was dodgy.
I thought the store was perfectly fine, the woman at the checkout counter was friendly, and the security guard seemed normal to me.
Most of the stuff they sell here is in bulk, but you really get great savings this way. I don’t have much storage in my apartment, so I can’t buy most bulk stuff, but some things are a great bargain for me here.
If you like to chew Trident gum, and can buy a box of it. Each pack comes out to be 60 cents, versus $ 1.20 in regular stores.
Their produce looked fresh. No problems there.
They also sell lots of cooking supplies for catering, or for cooking large amounts of food i.e. large pots, bulk of paper plates/​cups, etc.
There are a camp of homeless people across the street, but hey, its all good. They aren’t hurting anyone, so don’t be put off. Also, this area is heavily patrolled by the SDPD, and the area is safe, so don’t think otherwise.

Soufflé cups for jello shooters. This is ghetto Costco.
I pull up to the parking lot to witness the security guard eating a bag of Doritos & texting with his cheesy hands. However, I was on a mission to get some jello shot cups with the lids so I can stack them in the fridge & make them cooler friendly.
It’s a great party supply store with items ranging from chaffing trays, party table cloths, helium balloon tanks, coffee carafes, table wear, booze, & snacks. Prices are cheaper than Target & Party City. They had the plastic «silver wear» that makes your party look fancy schmancy. Costco only carries this during the Holidays. However, nothing says class at a party then a bunch of jello shots.
Prices listed also offer an additional bulk break point. IE $ 2.99 for 150 jello shooter cups, but for 20bulk x 150cups= It’s only $ 2.20. Sorry, I’m not going to make 3,000 jello shots just to get the «discount».
Get in & out on Sunday afternoon during the football game when it’s a ghost town & before they steal your car outside.